The Taste of Ink
by Anatholia
Summary: A new Disease has hit the World, turning normal citizens into blood-seeking cannibals. Vampirism. The young Sakura has been taken to be cured of this awful illness. And when the head doctor's son falls for her, how can they cope with this death sentence?
1. Prologue

November 23, 1913. 10:38 am

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><p>The snow crunched unevenly as the girl ran away from the ruins that used to be her home. Clutching her broken arm, she tried to move through the three-foot snow as swiftly as she could without causing any sort of commotion.<p>

It was so eerie. Just moments ago there were screams of pure terror as her home started to get attacked, but now the only sound was the rustling of the tree branches.

"Hey, sweetie, are you lost?" came a slurred voice. How had this man come up behind her without her noticing? "I can take you someplace nice and warm..." he smiled at her revealing raised gums, pointed teeth, and what looked like tar in between them. His face looked so menacing, his jaw and cheekbones protruding and stretching his skin made him look almost ghostly.

His arms seemed to be much to thin for his shirt; the faded green cloth had many holes, revealing pasty white skin underneath. How could he even bear the cold without any sort of coat on?

He wasn't even looking at her. Not really. He was looking through her, looking straight to her arm and the little pool of blood that was crusting on top of the snow.

Noticing his slow advance towards her, she made her way back, never taking her eyes off of him. Her foot caught on something, a branch maybe, and was sent tumbling backwards.

The harsh wind seemed to suck the breath right out her, not even allowing her to scream.

"Stay where you are! Both of you!" this voice was clearly that of a man, but the girl didn't dare move, staring at the approaching threat in front of her and shielding her face.

Then a deafening noise erupted into her ears, while a warm mist sprayed her hands. Blood.

A metallic smell started to fill the air as she noticed that now the strange man was lacking a head, and his body fell limply chest first into the snow.

"Girl! Are you alright?" The man set his riffle down as he ran towards her, lifting her to her feet. He had to be careful though; he had to check for the signs. "Child, what is your name?"

"I-I am not supposed to stop to talk to anyone until I reach the hospital." She mumbled weakly.

Good, at least she was able to talk, and her eyes were not dilated. "Why?" he asked, just then noticing her response. "Has it become unsafe here as well?"

"That's what my mommy told me… But they are going to meet me at the hospital. The Agency is bringing my Touya, mommy and daddy to me there…"

She made eye contact with him for the first time; her savior had a pleasant face, younger than her father's, but clearly older than her brother. It was odd; he was wearing fairly formal clothes, black slacks, white shirt with a navy blazer, and a charcoal ankle length wool overcoat. So, why then was he walking around with hunting boots, a handgun, and several extra rounds of ammunition?

The man finally noticed the girl's arm, lying limply by her side drenched in blood. He continued to talk to her, tearing the coattail of his shirt to bandage her wound. The smell would only attract more of the infected. "What's your name?"

"Sakura…Sakura Kinomoto…" the girl was awoken from her thoughts at the question, fidgeting at the hem of her own bright red pea coat.

"Wow, that's such a pretty name. Mine is Mr. Terada. How old are you?" Luckily his distraction was working. This break was a bad one; her bone was even protruding out of her skin. She was losing a lot of blood and would lose that much more if she started to panic; she needed to stay calm.

"I'm nine, my brother says that I'm short for my age, but I don't believe him." She pouted.

The man burst out laughing at how oblivious she was to the chaos happening around her, and how he couldn't bare the fact that the girl's innocence would soon be shattered completely. "I'm sure that he's just messing with you. But we need to get a move on now. We don't want your parents to be waiting on you, now do we?"

She nodded her head.

Not even twenty minutes ago her father had ushered her – pushing, really – out of the cellar door, telling her to get to the hospital and not to talk to anyone. There were so many people walking around upstairs, it sounded just like a heard of elephants. Why they hadn't all come crashing through the ceiling was beyond her.

She hadn't even known many of the people who burst through their home's gates, and they had even trampled on the garden she helped her mother plant last spring. Her family immediately ran down into the cellar, saying that it would not make any difference to try to reason with them.

Her mother had told her that there were a lot of sick people, and that they needed help. But that in order to do that they needed to keep them locked in the house so that they wouldn't get anyone else sick. They were going to lock up the house, and would be going to the hospital right behind her.

"Here," said Mr. Terada, squatting down in front of her. "Get on my back. I don't want you to get any more hurt than you already have."

The girl agreed, and held onto his broad shoulders, trying not to cry at how badly her arm was hurting. Images of the last few moments with her parents came flooding back to her.

Her father and mother rushed her out the door, telling her that there shouldn't be anyone in the backyard yet, and that she needed to leave that instant. Her parents unlocked the back cellar door leading to the outside.

"Listen," her father told her quietly. "When you leave, Sakura, stay towards the left of the field, so that you can hide between the trees if you need to. And do your best not to walk on paths that are covered in fresh snow, because it would a lot easier for _them _to find you that way."

None of this was making any sense to the girl, but she nodded her head in agreement anyway.

"Father! Mother!" she heard her brother yell; something had gone wrong.

They gave her one last hug, trying not to show how scared the both of them were, and pushed her through the large oak door.

Everything was white outside; the trees, the ground, and even the sky seemed to have been drained of color that morning.

She began to leave the house, climbing up the stairs that led to the cellar entrance, and onto the patio. As she made her way to the stairs which descended to the field behind her house, she slipped on a layer of thick ice, causing her to fall down the flight of marble stairs and hitting her left arm on one of the neglected flower pots.

She tried to look at her injury, but instantly regretted it. She had cracked her bone on the ledge of a stair while she fell, breaking it completely as well as tearing right through her skin. It made her nauseous to even look at it, so she pulled her shirt and coat back over it, trying to ignore it until she made it to the hospital.

"You know Sakura, your father is an incredibly smart man." Sakura's thoughts were once again interrupted.

"Ah, excuse me?" She asked, having ignored Terada completely. "Oh, um, yes he is. Although, I've never actually seen him while he was working."

"Well you will just have to take my word for it, Sakura; the man is truly a genius."

Would he not tell her why? She waited for him to continue, but he did not say anything more. So she rested her head on his back, concentrating on his steady breaths.

The hospital was fairly difficult to get to; the only road wound up the side of the hill with trees and brush on either side. It was fairly steep to climb by foot; especially with a wounded girl but the fear that people with the Disease would catch up to them kept the pair making good time.

The way the trees twisted and turned with their naked branches unsettled her. Crows were staring at them with their beady red eyes, cocking their heads a little when the travelers walked past.

They eventually made their way to a tall iron gate. "Well this is new." Mr. Terada looked at the pad lock with his free hand, wondering how in the world they were going to be able to get past the gate.

"Don't move!" a man yelled. "Who are you, and what is your business here?" he commanded.

The man was wearing a dark green uniform, almost exactly what military men would wear. He was holding some sort of sniper gun, or was it a machine gun? Sakura couldn't quite tell, though she could tell that he wouldn't hesitate to use it.

"I am Yoshiyuki Terada. I found this girl, Sakura Kinomoto, outside of her home near the farmlands. She was being attacked by one of the infected. The virus is spreading much more quickly than anticipated."

The man lowered his weapon. "Are you the daughter of Fujitaka and Nadeshiko Kinomoto?"

"Yes…" she whispered just loud enough to hear.

He turned his attention back to Terada. "You say you helped her?"

"Yes sir. I have no other connection to the girl other than the fact that I found her along my way to the next town. Though it seems that it has become unsafe everywhere."

"Both of you come closer to the gate. I need to check to see if either of you are infected."

The two obliged and moved closer. The man pulled out a light and instructed them to look at it one at a time. He then checked to make sure that neither had broken into a cold sweat or had a fever.

When he felt satisfied with his results, he motioned them to take a step back. "Follow me please." The man said as he unlocked the gate. He led on a worn out path to the left of the main paved road, making it more difficult for Terada to carry the girl.

"We have to go through a side entrance." The man explained. "You see, should the infected manage to come through our gates, it is much more likely that they would storm the front of the building. This way, if people wander their way to the front entrance we automatically assume the worst. And we take drastic measures-" he stopped, finally realizing the girl's age. "or precaution, I mean."

"Yes, sir. I understand." Terada put Sakura down as the path became laid with cobblestone, holding her uninjured arm in the process.

They were now standing at what seemed to be the edge of a courtyard, several flower beds left unattended, and a couple park benches overturned as if they were in a hurry to move them out of the way.

"I am very sorry," the man said. "But you must both wait outside. At least until the rest of her family arrives, or a doctor becomes available for further analysis." He looked at the shivering girl. "I will bring some warm tea and blankets in just a moment. Thank you very much for your cooperation." He bowed ever so slightly and went on his way.

Waiting on her parents seemed to drag on for hours. Their blankets and tea came rather quickly, which kept the two occupied, but then she started to get bored and antsy.

Terada managed to keep her busy for a little while, trying to teach her black jack until he realized that it might not have been the most appropriate game to teach a nine year old. So Sakura took it upon herself to teach the older man how to play go fish.

"Ahaha!" she laughed. "You're doing it wrong, mister! You need to get the colors together, like this."

Before she could explain more clearly, they were interrupted by the soldier again, this time bringing company.

"Mother!" she rushed into her mother's arms, she could almost feel the relief radiating off of her skin.

"Oh sweetie, I am so grateful that you are alright!" she clutched to her daughter's back, stroking her hair, just glad that she was alive.

"Sir, please, there must be some way to thank you." Her father spoke up, hinting at some sort of monetary compensation.

"Of course not, Doctor Kinomoto. If your child had not told me that the area near the farms had become unsafe, I could very well have gotten infected. We all must protect each other if we are to stay safe through this epidemic."

"Yes, I believe that too. I am very sorry, but I do not believe that I caught your name?"

"Terada, Yoshiyuki Terada. I was a teacher at the local grade school until the government urged parents to keep their children at home, due to the highly contagious disease."

"Ah, I see. Should we take our conversation inside? It won't be long before the sun starts to set and it becomes even colder." All three men began to walk inside, though Nadeshiko stopped Sakura from entering.

"Honey, I think we should let them talk for awhile alone, and I think it will be really boring, don't you?" she smiled at her daughter, trying her very best to shield her from this mayhem as best as she could.

"I guess so," she murmured. "But can I play?"

"Of course my Sakura, and would you look at I found in the cellar this morning?" she pulled out of her pocket a faded red ball made of cloth.

"Really? Oh thank you mother! I didn't think that we would be able to take any toys at all." She took the ball and held it close, one of the few remaining items from her old home. "Would you like to play with me?"

"Of course. Let me just go inside real quick and make us a snack before dinner, I bet you're starving." She winked at her, and then walked up the patio stairs and into the kitchen.

She started playing with the ball. It had lost its bounce, but she was positive that she could make up a game where you could roll it.

The breeze was so nice up on this hill. And the sun was just starting to set. If only she could see the same view from inside her bedroom at home.

A crow startled her out of her thoughts, making her send her ball rolling toward the edge of the gate. As soon as she started moving to where the toy laid, she noticed a dark figure in the brush, moving ever so slightly.

She moved a few leaves and twigs, making sure that an animal wasn't about to jump out at her. Then she saw the girl, hugging her knees, and in a tattered see-through grey slip.

"Hey, little girl?" she lifted the brush to get a closer look. "Where are you from?"

Without turning her head, a little whisper escaped behind her knotty hair. "The Valley…"

Sakura went further into the bush, pulling the girl out by the arm.

When she took her into the light, Sakura could tell that the girl was a few years younger than herself, had tangled black hair, and was shaking.

Her head held low and she made no attempt to see her rescuer. Sakura tilted the girl's head back, revealing a pallid complexion and blood shot eyes. Her skin was burning as Sakura checked her temperature.

"Oh no! We must get you to my mother right now!" she grabbed her hand, pulling her toward the kitchen entrance.

"Mother! Quickly!" she cried. "I found a girl in the bushes and she's-"

The next moments seemed to slow down time, allowing for Sakura to take in every detail. A horrendous pain paralyzed her arm, the bone cracking under the pressure that was being inflicted onto it. She looked down to see that the girl's teeth had sunk into her flesh, her eyes white, her fingers grasping for a better hold of its prey.

"Wha- I can't-" she managed to stammer. But it was too late. Between the blood loss from her broken arm earlier that day, and the traumatizing event currently unfolding, shock was beginning to set in.

"Sakura?"

It sounded as if she was suddenly plunged under water. She could hear her mother screaming, but it sounded so distant that it did not seem to matter. She couldn't see. Splotches filled her eyes and everything seemed to go red.

The shot of a gun, the thud of a body, and the painful jolt of the ground below. The last memories of the life of Sakura Kinomoto.

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><p>AN: Hey everyone, I hope you like the first part of my story! This is just the Prologue, so I promise that things will get much more interesting quickly. I have the entire story (the main plot) outlined, so no worries about me having writer's block. The only reason I would ever be late updating is if my internet crashes, or serious irl business. I will try to update at least once a week.  
>About the Rating: I rated this story M so that I could write without having to worry about a younger audience, though I wish there were a T+ rating. This is not going to be filled with smut, just an fyi. But there will be some just in later chapters I just think that it's very unrealistic to have stuff happen in the first couple chapters.<br>Note: Sakura is not dead!  
>Please review if you could, I would really appreciate it. Thank you so much and hope to see you soon!<p> 


	2. The Other Side of the Mirror

A/N: Ok about the whole vampire thing; I wanted to make a story about vampires that focused on the medical side of things. Like if needing blood, and having to be kept out of the sun were side effects of the medical condition. And the vampire "virus" spreads by blood. But enough of that, it will all make much more sense later.

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><p>Chapter 2: The Other Side of the Mirror<p>

1943

That morning was chaotic. There were nurses with clipboards going back and forth, and doctors shouting orders, each trying to be louder than the other. What surprised the boy the most was that his mother had quarantined the entire East wing of the building, and not just the 5th floor either. Every floor from the East Lobby all the way to the East Storage Attic had been closed off and every entrance guarded.

"Mother, why am I here? You told me that I could only come to the Agency headquarters if I stayed on the ground floor with the interns." The boy was trying to keep up with his mother's fast-paced walk, turning from one bleak white corridor to the next.

"You see Syaoran, today you are going to meet a very special person," she began, motioning to the guard to let her pass. "and she is going to wake up in just over half an hour. But you can not see her until we calm her down."

Syaoran was confused. What was his mother talking about? Calm her down? He didn't dare express his doubts though, he knew better than that. Ignorance was one thing that his mother had no tolerance for.

"You are going to stay here for a little while alright? Do not leave unless Wei or I come to get you." At that her eyes softened ever so slightly, appreciating how obedient her son had become over the years. "Be good, and don't cause any trouble."

His mother dropped him off at the nurse's quarters, and just as quickly rushed off into the thickening crowd of white lab coats. The nurse's lounge was more like an over sized storage closet with a handful of appliances and furniture scattered about. He turned to see several ladies huddled around the kitchenette's coffee maker, stirring in their sugar while gossiping about the day's approaching events.

These ladies were definitely not the most experienced nurses, but they were far from interns, which could not be trusted with the secretive experiments being conducted in this specialized hospital.

Not wanting to interrupt their conversation, as well as not wanting them to censor their thoughts, Syaoran sat quietly on a chair just close enough to make out what they were saying.

"I swear, they better be able to contain that thing, I am not making nearly enough money to be risking my life for this shitty job." One woman criticized.

How dare she openly mock a job opportunity that she had been so gracefully given? The boy knew that it was only a matter of time before she made enemies with the wrong person. She would not last another week if he could help it.

"Oh Ruki, someone could overhear you!" this time a small framed woman wearing glasses chimed in. "And they told you that they would be awaking the girl as soon as the medical equipment had been repaired. You have had more than enough time to quit. You need to watch your tongue."

Ruki couldn't come up with anything to say, stammering out a few worthless excuses until she gave up all together. She turned her head in embarrassment, only to find the Director's son staring at her.

Her face went white and the metal spoon started to clang against the porcelain mug.

The young nurse put down her coffee, announced she was going to the bathroom, and sulked quickly out of the tiny room.

It seemed that most of the other women thought she was being ungrateful too, seeing as how no one came to her defense or tried to chase after her. Instead they took a stool from the corner of the room, and made a place for the boy to sit at the table, asking him if he would like anything to eat. It would not fair well for any of them if he were to rat any of them out to his mother.

The young lady with glasses, Ms. Satoshi, brought him a scone and some milk; Syaoran could already tell that he liked this woman. She had a pleasant smile on her face without it seeming fake – and being the son of the Director he had definitely seen many of those – and by the way the other nurses treated her she seemed to be a genuinely nice person.

"Ms. Satoshi, pardon my ignorance, but I do not quite understand what is happening in the Agency this morning."

The young woman was more taken aback by the seven year-olds' vocabulary than the question at first, but then looked around the room for some reinforcements from other nurses.

When it seemed that none of the other women had any idea of how to approach the question either, Ms. Satoshi cleared her throat and began. "You see, there is a patient here that is about to wake up from her coma in a just under half an hour. You know a little about the Vampirism Disease right?" she asked.

"Of course. But I am not quite following you; how do you know when exactly she is going to wake up? I thought that it was impossible to predict when coma patients woke up?"

This kid must be some kind of genius in the making, she thought. "Yes, that is true. But you see she was put into a medically induced coma about twenty years ago, meaning that doctors injected her with chemicals to bring about a coma-like effect."

"I see." His eyebrows furrowed, making him look older than he was. "But what exactly does that have to do with the Virus?"

"Several decades ago, a doctor named Fujitaka Kinomoto began to perform experiments in order to try to understand how the Virus affected its host. He was the first to make such great leaps into this unknown field of study. Then tragedy struck when his only daughter got bitten by one of the Infected, sending the whole Kinomoto family into a horrible state of grief. Every member of the family was somehow tied to the Agency; Fujitaka was an incredible doctor, Nadeshiko's own father had founded the institution, and their son Touya had just become an officer in the Agency's growing military field. After the attack of their daughter, the entire family seemed to close up, not coming to work for weeks."

The whole room suddenly felt like a vacuum, all of the air having been sucked out of it listening to the heartbreaking story being told. Everyone's attention seemed to be concentrated on his or her coffee mugs, a napkin, or even splitting the ends of their hair; anything to try to show that this event didn't affect them as much as it really did.

"So the daughter died," the boy stated. "What happened to the rest of the family?"

"No," the nurse said, confused at how the child didn't understand where she had been heading with the story. "The patient that is being woken up today is Sakura Kinomoto, his daughter."

"But isn't that impossible? Anyone who contracts the Disease is immediately put to death because of how contagious it is." Syaoran talked about death as something very concrete, something that was simply a fact and not to be mourned over. The way he was talking seemed almost cold.

"That is true, but the doctor couldn't bear to see his daughter put to death, especially being so close to a breakthrough. You see, even though he was unable to come up with a cure or an antidote, Mr. Kinomoto and his team were beginning to understand how the Disease worked, how it attacked the body, and was hopeful that he could save his precious child."

"And we believe that we have come up with enough experimental vaccines and data, enough so that we may wake the child up." This stern voice caught Ms. Satoshi off-guard, though Syaoran knew instantly who it was and stood up at attention.

Yelan Li was standing at the doorway with another woman and a young girl, the latter of which seemed to be around the same age as Syaoran.

"Syaoran, I do hope you remember Mrs. Daidouji and her lovely daughter, Miss Tomoyo?"

"Yes ma'am, of course." Having not completely forgotten his manners, the boy shook the hand of Mrs. Daidouji and kissed Tomoyo's.

"My, quite a gentleman you have been raising here Yelan." Mrs. Daidouji said as his mother started for the door.

"Ms. Fuuka Satoshi, I am very grateful to you for having watched my son for me." Yelan was not one to give thanks unless she truly thought that the other party had gone above the call of duty, which Ms. Satoshi knew and immediately curtsied to her superior.

"Of course, Mrs. Li. Please let me know right away if there is anything else I may assist you with."

"I would also like to express my thanks," came Syaoran's voice, though much softer than his mother's. "Thank you for taking care of me." And he bowed, matching Ms. Satoshi.

As his mother and Mrs. Daidouji walked ahead talking, Syaoran turned his attention to the small girl next to him, Tomoyo.

Her hair was tied back into a high ponytail with a dark blue ribbon, her curls bouncing with her as she walked. Her dress and lacy socks reminded him of a European doll, but something made him think that she could hold a conversation quite well.

As he was studying her, Tomoyo caught him red handed, making him blush in embarrassment as she giggled.

"I-I'm sorry, it's rude to stare." He apologized, his eyes never leaving his feet.

"Oh, don't worry about it Syaoran. May I call you that? I mean you do owe me after staring at me for so long." And once again she burst into a fit of giggles.

"Of course!" Why wouldn't she drop it? He was just trying to get a good look at her because he hadn't seen her is such a long time! (Perhaps you can briefly go into when they met/how their families know each other?)

His mother and Mrs. Daidouji had attended the same college, and had both been successful in the medical field. Although she founded a thriving manufacturing company, Mrs. Daidouji created a specialized factory to suit Yelan's needs. Having so much more information and power than the government, let alone the general public, the Agency could not use the tools and equipment that other hospitals were using because of how dated they were. Therefore Sonomi was entrusted with developing the Agency's constantly changing scientific equipment, specifically created for the secretive experiments that required truly unusual tools.

Although Syaoran rarely left the Li mansion, it was inevitable that he would frequently meet Tomoyo. Although he had always found her a bit odd, she thought that the most random things were 'cute', she was a nice enough girl and didn't mind spending time with.

Tomoyo's shoes clacked loudly against the floor, and the girl's smile faltered. "Are you nervous?"

"I'm sorry, I'm not quite sure I know what you are referring to."

Tomoyo's eyes still didn't meet his, only staring straight ahead. "The girl we will be seeing today."

"No." he said almost immediately. "I mean it's just a girl. There won't be much more to her than that."

Tomoyo just nodded her head, not saying anything.

She seemed to know more about the girl than he did, making him a bit jealous that her mother would trust her with valuable information when his own had not.

It seemed that the power had gotten cut off in the corridor that they were walking in, but his mother explained that the patient they were going to see had very sensitive eyes and that this would help her keep calm.

The two mothers deposited their children in front of what seemed like a window, though the adults explained to them that it was a one-way mirror.

Before Yelan and Mrs. Daidouji entered the patient's hospital room, they described how the procedure would take place. They would wake her up, try to calm her down because this would be her first time awake in several years, and then the nurses would take over.

As the two women put on their lab coats, four nurses brought out medical equipment – syringes, herbs, liquids and balms – while two others wheeled in the patient. Sakura Kinomoto.

When Sakura came into view, Tomoyo gasped and grabbed onto Syaoran's hand, startling him at the sudden display of emotion. Why was she acting this way when she didn't even know the girl?

Sakura looked as if she were only two years or so older than himself, despite the fact that she had been in a comatose state for two decades now. What amazed Syaoran the most was how fragile she looked, that a gust of wind would just topple her over. Even though she was several feet away, he could still make out the faint blue color of the veins running through her arms; he could hardly believe how thin she was.

The nurses began to strap restraints on her ankles and writs as their mothers began to check Sakura's vital signs.

Tomoyo's grip on Syaoran grew tighter, and he knew what was about to happen.

His mother injected the frail girl with some sort of chemical, and almost instantly, the girl's eyes flew open.

What happened next no one could have predicted.

Sakura began to pull at her leather manacles, causing her bed to rattle and shake. The nurses all took several steps back, covering their faces with their clipboards, while Yelan stood ready for whatever happened.

"Get these things off of me!" Sakura screamed.

Yelan's eyes grew wide in shock, as well as everybody else watching the scene.

"She can speak?" murmured Tomoyo. "This is unbelievable. No one going through the Hunger is supposed to be able to be sane enough to know what is happening to them, let alone talk!"

"I said get them off!" She screamed frantically, kicking and twisting every which way.

Her hands seemed to contort into an impossible position, allowing her to claw at her bindings with her fingernails. No, they were more like talons. How could her fingernails be strong enough to tear through that leather so easily?

In an instant her hands were free, and by the time it took for Syaoran to blink, she had already unharnessed her ankles.

Sakura's eyes were searching the crowd ravenously, like she had just now realized that she was hungry and looking for easy prey.

Her knees gave out under all of the sudden stress she was putting her body in after such a short amount of time of being awake. She stumbled off of the rolling bed and a sickening cracking noise echoed through the hall when she landed. A thick black substance started to ooze from her leg, looking very much like tar.

Was this really what the Infected's blood looked like? Syaoran knew that the reason people who had contracted the Disease craved blood because their own decayed so quickly. But the fact that he was witnessing such a putrid thing in person made him want to vomit.

Syaoran dropped Tomoyo's hand and used it to cover his face, in case he really did get sick.

Yelan, using Sakura's contorted broken leg as the perfect opening, ran toward the girl and restrained her against the blood stained linoleum floor.

Tears were streaming down Sakura's covered face, filthy from her own blood. "Please… I just need help… I can't- I don't- please… save me…" and then all the fight left Sakura, and the nurses sedated her.

Yelan inserted a needle into Sakura's arm, feeding blood into her system, bringing an ever so slight bit of color back to her cheeks.

That day, Syaoran made a vow that he would do whatever it took to protect her. Whatever it took to cure her, or make her life even a little bit better, he would do it. He would save Sakura Kinomoto.

He just didn't realize at the time how far he would go to protect her.

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><p>AN: Thank you so much for reading! Please review and tell me how I can improve, or other questions or comments. I truly love hearing your feedback! I'll try to start making the chapters a bit longer; I didn't realize how short they were. Well, see you soon!


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